Al-Qaida in Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki traveled to Washington earlier this month, visiting the White House for the first time since 2011.Maliki’s visit came at (yet another) terrible time for Iraq; the country...

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Posted Nov. 16, 2013 @ 12:01 am

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki traveled to Washington earlier this month, visiting the White House for the first time since 2011.

Maliki’s visit came at (yet another) terrible time for Iraq; the country has been a bloodbath this year. Indeed, 2013 has been the deadliest year in Iraq since 2008, with more than 7,000 people killed in a series of horrific terrorist attacks and sectarian battles. Al-Qaida, meanwhile, which has been largely responsible for the slaughter, is putting down deep roots in the country; the leading counter-terrorism analyst Bruce Riedel identifies the essentially lawless border area between Syria and Iraq as “al-Qaida’s most dangerous stronghold.”

It’s little wonder, then, that Prime Minister Maliki reportedly pleaded for U.S. assistance in his meeting with the president, requesting more security funding and the sale of U.S. Apache helicopters, Hellfire missiles, and unmanned drones.

Mr. Maliki, according to The Washington Post, told Mr. Obama that “U.S. help is vital in containing the security threat in [Iraq] posed by the growth of al-Qaida.”

Mr. Maliki has demonstrated questionable competence in office, but he’s undeniably correct on this point. Yet President Obama — and Congress — appear to have been unmoved; no change in policy was announced. Indeed, in the nearly two years since the last of our troops moved out of the country, the U.S. has all but abandoned Iraq.

This is proving to be a strategic mistake. Not only is the festering presence of al-Qaida in the western part of the country sowing slaughter in Iraq and Syria, al-Qaida is also using this area to train fighters to commit atrocities in Europe, Russia and possibly the United States. We now risk vast swaths of Iraq resembling Taliban-era Afghanistan, with al-Qaida having a launchpad for major attacks.

Obviously, few Americans want to re-insert the United States in Iraq on a large scale, after the terrible price in lives and money we paid in driving out Saddam Hussein and trying to help Iraq be reborn as a less threatening and more democratic country.

But it need not be feast or famine. We should provide some minor, targeted aid to protect gains made at such a dear cost to our country.